Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Forensic Medical Services in Madrid (Spain)()

The Community or Madrid has been the Community hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent star up of the Madrid's Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, has forced to manage this situation, with its precarious structure, through the establishment of Accords and operational guidelines, which have prevented the collapse of its functioning. These measures, also promoted by the different Services, but in particular, those adopted by the Pathology Service, have contributed to avoid this situation. In this sense, special measures had to be adopted for the treatment of corpses in Madrid Community, with the opening of temporary deposits, which would face the high number of deaths. A comparative study of the number of deaths, according to forensic medical etiology, has been carried out from 2019 with the year 2020, in the period between March 9 to April 20 of this year.